Halloween: Why Michael Myers Is Called The Shape

Halloween’s villain Michael Myers has become a cinematic icon and a favorite among horror fans, and while many are aware that Michael Myers was originally named The Shape, they might not know why. The Halloween franchise has seen many ups and downs with multiple retcons, remakes, and reboots of the series. Though not all Halloween films have been successful, they have certainly helped maintain the popularity and reputation of Michael Myers, who is now part of pop culture, being referred to and parodied on multiple occasions in different films and TV shows from all genres.

Michael Myers is credited as "The Shape” in the original Halloween before being officially credited as "Michael Myers" in the sequels, only for the most recent Halloween trilogy, including Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends, to return to crediting him as The Shape. With the constant switching back and forth, and the fact that the name "Michael Myers" is iconic in the horror franchise, there is a lot of confusion around the credit. The history behind The Shape credit and its return in the new Halloween trilogy goes back to the franchise's beginning.

Halloween: Why Michael Myers Was Called The Shape In The First Film

The Shape Came From John Carpenter's Original Script

Michael Myers is an iconic horror villain, one whose face and name are synonymous with the slasher genre. Michael Myers’ name is said many times through the first Halloween film, so it was never a secret who the killer was, but the end credits have him as “The Shape” instead of Michael Myers (except for the six and 23-year-old versions).

Every Actor To Play Michael Myers:

There’s actually a simple reason why Michael was credited as The Shape. It’s because that’s how John Carpenter referred to masked-up Michael Myers in the script. In fact, the nickname was first used by Carpenter when describing Michael's iconic mask. When watching the film and how Michael is presented in each one of his scenes, it makes sense he was called “The Shape”, as he was hiding in the shadows most of the time.

“The Shape” also has an interesting story that’s unrelated to Halloween, though it might have served as inspiration. This was a term used in the Salem Witch Trials back in the 1690s to describe specters or spirits accused of doing harm, which actually fits Michael Myers and his actions. Michael Myers is still called The Shape, but his real name has become a synonym for pure evil, no matter how many retcons Halloween goes through. However, the conceptual and thematic essence of The Shape identity is still present.

The Latest Halloween Movies Use The Shape Name Too

The Name Signifies The Legacy Of Michael Myers

In 2018 the Halloween franchise was rebooted, with Jamie Lee Curtis back as Laurie Strode. The new trilogy (Halloween, Halloween Kills, Halloween Ends) is another retcon, restarting the Halloween timeline to ignore everything except for the original movie. What's worth noting is the fact that these latest films go back to crediting Michael Myers as The Shape. As well as being a nod to 1978's Halloween, there's a thematic reason too.

Halloween Ends sees the death of Michael Myers when Laurie bleeds him out through the neck and wrists, then feeds his body through a metal shredder. However, while this iteration of Michael Myers is gone, evil never dies, which is the point of Halloween Ends. As was hinted at multiple times in the trilogy, somebody else is always waiting to pick up the mask (both literally and metaphorically). It's in this way that the term The Shape is more thematic than anything else, as Myers represents the shape of evil.

For as long as humanity continues, someone else will assume the shape of evil, the archetypal worst of humanity, and the legacy will continue. When considering Corey Cunningham's manslaughter at the beginning of Halloween Ends, Carpenter poses a basic thread for audiences to follow — that trauma caused by an evil action will infect a community. This is the message of the latest Halloween movies, and settles the question of why Michael Myers is called The Shape in the David Gordon Green Halloween trilogy.

The Shape Name Adds To The Supernatural Aspect Of Michael Myers

Is Michael A Man Or Something More?

Michael Myers' credit as The Shape in Halloween credit adds another element to the character, cementing the supernatural aspect that has always floated around the franchise. One of the defining qualities of Michael Myers is that, unlike fellow slasher icons Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger, Michael is a flesh-and-blood human. However, he is also described as the embodiment of evil and his emotionless brutality makes him appear inhuman. At the end of the first Halloween, Laurie Strode asks Dr. Loomis if Michael is "the boogeyman" to which the doctor responds "As a matter of fact it was."

Crediting Michael as The Shape solidifies the supernatural aspect people associate with Michael. While the less popular sequels attempted to add some true supernatural elements with the Cult of Thorn, Michael has always been more interesting when he is just a man fueled by his evil desires. Donning a mask and refusing to speak, he does take on the quality of a shape haunting Haddonfield throughout the decades.

How Michael Myers Has Evolved Since Being "The Shape"

Further Exploration Of Michael Myers Added To His Legacy

Following the success of Halloween and the popularity of Michael Myers' character, it is not surprising that the franchise fully embraced the character and his name in the sequels. However, apart from capitalizing on the success of the character, Michael eventually being credited by his own name actually made sense for the movies that followed the 1978 original. That is because the franchise delved deeper into who he was as a man beyond being a mindless killer and the embodiment of evil.

The point of the first movie was the randomness of Michael's killing. After murdering his sister as a child, Michael's other murders are simply based on returning to his childhood home and killing anyone he comes across. The sequels give Michael more of a purpose as it is discovered in Halloween II that Michael is the brother of Laurie Strode, which is why he is targeting her. From there, the sequels continued to maintain the connection between Michael and his family.

With this being the case, it was impossible to only see Michael as a killer in a mask as his connection to the real world was continuously touched upon. This is especially true of Rob Zombie's Halloween movies that leaned into the family aspect even more, even going into a prolonged backstory for Michael. With the latest Halloween movies ignoring the family connection between Laurie and Michael, he was able to become The Shape once again.

Halloween is a horror film released in 1978 that centers on the fictional town of Haddonfield, Illinois, as a masked serial killer terrorizes it. Over a decade after the brutal murder of Judith Myers by her brother, Michael, Michael escapes from the local Sanitarium to continue his silent killing spree- with teenage Laurie Strode being his new potential victim.

Release Date October 27, 1978

Cast Donald Pleasence , Jamie Lee Curtis , Tony Moran , Nancy Kyes , P.J. Soles , Kyle Richards , Charles Cyphers

Runtime 91 Minutes

Halloween

Cast Jamie Lee Curtis , Nick Castle , James Jude Courtney , Donald Pleasence , Brian Andrews , Anthony Michael Hall , Kyle Richards , Nancy Stephens , Charles Cyphers , Andi Matichak , Judy Greer